5 eCommerce Shipping Mistakes You Must Avoid

You have launched an eStore and you feel absolutely ecstatic about it! You love your new range of products, the environment of your store and the new website that displays your gleaming products. And why not? After all, that is what sells and helps you to promote your brands. However, you might be overlooking something which is very important here. And that is – product shipping and delivery. If you are new to eCommerce, you can make some shipping and delivery related mistakes that can seriously undermine the changes of your store. Read through this piece to know more about the bloopers that you might end up making and how to avoid them.

1. Being Imprecise About Shipping Rates

When your buyers purchase online, they do not like to spend more than a particular percentage of transaction on domestic or international shipping. Customers dread paying the amount if the cost of shipping is more than the actual product. Unless they desperately want to buy something and it’s not available in any offline store! So if you do not have monopoly with your products, it isn’t a good idea to be vague about shipping rates. Provide the facility of displaying shipping rates in real time. Of course, the shipping rates should be reasonable and shouldn’t come with any last minute surprises. Make sure that the shipping rate is displayed throughout the checkout process and also a link to know more about shipping prices and available options.

2. Overrating Or Underrating Tax And Duties

The value of taxes is decided by the country that imports and keeps varying from one country to another. Some governments adhere to the ‘de minimis value’ rule. As a part of this rule, duties and taxes cannot be imposed on products that cost below a certain price. Fare trade agreements amongst two trading countries also eliminate the tariff rates sometimes. But the store owners underestimate duties and taxes and duties for countries that have a high tariff rate on certain products. This is when the customers suffer. You can resolve this issue by installing a software or extension that can handle the price variables and calculate the final price in the back-end.

3. Not Addressing Address blues

Sometimes the customers tend to fill the address column in a hurry. And that’s when they end up committing errors. As an aftermath, their shipment traverses through a whole lot of areas and comes back to your outlet. This results into two problems. One, you disappoint the customer. And two, you incur a loss. Some store owners include a verification process wherein the customers are asked to review the address before the order is finalized. But we all know how customers dislike prolonged procedures. In this case, consider having automated software that tracks the address of the customer in real time and notifies them about the changes. This will lead to immediate enhancements and keep the address blues at bay.

4. Failing To Conduct Inspections

Preciseness and accuracy are must when it comes to packing the product in the boxes. You might have blind faith in your staff – that they will pack the right product in the right box. But it is better not to be over-confident about such matters unless you are packing the boxes with products yourself. Also, the products which undergo customs get checked along with their documents. Hence, it is wiser to undertake an open box inspection so that you know what product is in the box and whether it matches the details in the document. It is advisable to conduct this process yourself; but you can also hire professionals for the inspection tasks.

5. Disappointing With Payment Methods

Customers like to pay by the method that is comfortable to them. International customers may often have a problem if you provide only one payment option in your store. For eg, if you accept payments only through Google wallet, there might be a possibility that some customers find it inconvenient. This problem can be handled if you provide multiple payment options that work universally. Make sure you accept payments through international debit cards, credit cards as well as PayPal. Offering this convenience will make the transaction procedure easy for your customers and also generate better revenues for you.

It is possible to overcome all the issues mentioned above if you have a skillful eCommerce team that knows about the nitty gritties of shipping procedures. A smooth shipping procedure will keep your stress away and you will be able to have a profitable business. We hope that you succeed in avoiding the above mistakes. Happy shipping!

Guest Author: Mr. Maulik Shah is the founder & CEO of Biztech IT Consultancy Pvt Ltd., one of the leading web design and Development Companies in India. He also runs Biztech Blog, where he shares insights from the world of ecommerce and other web based technologies.